"We are jihadists, and jihad is not terrorism"

Look at the faces of the men in the above photo. The Pakistani police in berets who are escorting their prisoners from a court hearing look stern enough, but three of the prisoners, a group of five young self-identified "jihadists" from suburban Washington, DC., are in high spirits, perhaps because they have--at least until now--managed to dodge a bullet. Pakistan has not deported them back to the United States, where authorities allege that they have links to al Qaeda and were seeking jihad training in Pakistan, and they have not been charged with a crime, despite assurances that the Pakistani police will formally recommend to the court that the young men be charged under anti-terrorism laws and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Two of the young prisoners (center) don't look so sure that they should be laughing. The prospect of life imprisonment in a Pakistani jail cannot be pleasant, and they likely have heard the reports that some of the young men's own parents approached the FBI with suspicions that their sons, who had disappeared from their northern Virginia homes, might have "gone overseas."

The young Americans are due back in court on Jan. 18, giving the police two weeks to prepare their case against the five men, Umar Farooq, Waqar Khan, Ahmed Minni, Aman Hassan Yemer, and Ramy Zamzam.

Not to worry, Mom and Dad: "We are jihadists, and jihad is not terrorism," observed one of the young prisoners, 22-year-old Ramy Zamzam. According to their attorney, the young men, aged 19 to 25, "only intended to travel to Afghanistan to help their Muslim brothers who are in trouble, who are bleeding and who are being victimized by Western forces."

Exactly how the men planned to provide that assistance has not been disclosed, but Pakistani authorities maintain that the group "had a map of Chashma Barrage [shown] - a complex located near nuclear power facilities that includes a water reservoir and other structures." That's not exactly a Red Crescent training manual. The complex lies in the populous province of Punjab, about 125 miles southwest of the capital, Islamabad.
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